We are the Children of Art

Experimental Exhibition @ Galleriiizu
7th - 27th Feb 2006

7 Malaysian Digital Experiments and the ‘Use Again’ Asia-PACIFIC Exhibition

Galleriiizu proudly announces the first Digital Art Exhibition in Malaysia!

Ever since its foundation in 1998, galleriiizu has aimed to promote various forms of art providing forums even to niche art movements. With the growing availability of interactive technologies and internet access, we witness both, a democratisation of art media as well as new art forms. Digital photography and printing has become an acceptable way of creation and presentation by major museums and galleries all around the world and the work of Digital Artists is consistently gaining ground. However, the work of Digital Painters or Printmakers is still not widely accepted by established art communities, it is not represented or collected by any major institution.

Besides its permanent section dedicated to digital art, called the ‘Digital Zone’, galleriiizu wants to mark a new chapter in the Malaysian art history and to set a milestone for this new art form by conducting an art exhibition exclusively reserved to artists utilizing and exploring digital media. ‘eX² – 01’ offers insight into current research and innovations in art and technology, making the public aware of the possibilities of modern technologies in art and helping Digital Art to achieve acceptance in the Malaysian art market.

As part of galleriiizu’s ‘7’ exhibition series, this experimental art show is held at the gallery from 7^th to 27^th and is featuring the Work of Malaysian Digital Pioneers as well as hosting the ‘Use Again’ World Tour.

MALAYSIAN DIGITAL EXPERIMENTS

‘eX2 – 01’ presents a variety of Malaysian Digital Art disciplines, each of which is represented by one pioneer from the respective field. Various individuals or collectives will introduce their work to the public, not all of them are primarily artists, but their visual explorations have been crucial to the emerging medium during the last years.

1. Jen Siow

Jen Siow has set a benchmark in the Malaysian art scene as a photographer who modifies his digital pictures through a computing process. As an industry leader and forerunner in digital technology he is well known for his beauty images. Jen Siow is an idealist as well as a pioneer in incorporating new digital technology into photography. Being a digital evangelist, Jen presents seminars to propagate total digital workflow in photography. In 1993 he became the first Malaysian photographer to embrace Digital Imaging. Since 1999 Jen adopted a total digital workflow shooting with high resolution digital backs without films and processing. Today Jen is into Multimedia Virtual Reality photography, shooting and stitching images for Web and Cd-rom content development. His academic roots include art education in UK and teaching in UiTM for 8 years. Jen Siow’s recent work has been exhibited in the National Art Gallery when Rado, a company of the Swatch Group and inventor of the scratchproof Swiss watches, celebrated its 48^t birthday in Malaysia. Among others, this Rado exhibition includes works of Andy Warhol and Jalaini Abu Hassan.

2. Arachnid

Arachnid is one of Malaysia’s pioneer interactive agencies, founded in 1996. It is also the country’s most awarded, with 50 major local and international accolades. Today, Arachnid leads in the evolution of marketing communication thinking. Arachnid’s approach to interactive is value-driven and bandwagon-proof. Rather than chase the ‘cutting edge’, their solutions are grounded on sound marketing fundamentals and robust technologies applied in out-of-the-box ways. Arachnid provides some of the most distinctive and effective interactive solutions in brand strategy, creative execution and use of technology, and is the digital marketing partner of choice for some of the world’s biggest brands.

3. Muid Latif

Muid Latif is the founder of the Digital Malaya Project (DMP), an established art and design portal acknowledged by MSC-APICTA 2002 and online portals such as Net diver and CWD. From sketches to heavy design work, the portal serves as a Malaysian platform to showcase the talent and contribution of local Digital Artists and their collaboration with international artists and designers from all around the world. Muid Latif studied in Fine Arts, majoring in sculpture at UiTM under the guidance of Prof. Madya Ramlan Abdullah, who is one of Asia’s well-established sculptors. He got inspired by the electronic art movement when he studied the works of Nam June Paik, Bill Viola and the late Ismail Zain. Later, he explored the works of Mike Young, Joshua Davis, Drew Europheo and Benny of Six Station. He is s designer by profession, but an artist in his ‘free’ time. A supportive mentor, designer and illustrator, Muid Latif has been involved in the Malay design community for a number of years. He had been working with various clients such as Maxis (Hotlink), Petronas MyMesra and Petrosains, Microsoft (Singapore), Bank Negara and others. Muid Latif was selected as one of final judges for the Philippines Webby Awards. He takes part in exhibition locally and throughout Asia alongside other well-known artists and international designers. He also gives talks and volunteers for charity and AIDS awareness campaigns.

4. Aneem

Aneem is a young Malaysian Digital Artist. As a neographer, she is using electronic version of brushes, filters and enlargers to produce images unattainable through conventional photographic tools. Founder of Children of Art, which aim to promote the love for art & design among youth and youngsters in Malaysia.

5. Motiofixo

Motiofixo was born in 2005 when Sham and Idril, two zealous underground music fans decided to approach bands of the scene in attempt to channel their passion towards creating beautiful music video designs. The team was expanded when Shahril joined, and later on Fariz (afhmotionwerks), a talented young motion designer. Motionfixo main style focuses on pop, experimental and conceptual video design that demands attention! With Sham on set design, Shahril behind the camera, Idril on 3D and Fariz working his motion magic, they are all set out in hope to invigorate the mainstream music scene. Now Motionfoxo expands to offer more than just music videos. Any form of video presentation varies from corporate videos to wedding videos are parts of the Motionfixo’s special delights.

6. Lim Oon Soon

7. THE WORKS

THE WORKS is a musical collective established in 2003 with the aim of pushing the boundaries of sound and redefining the parameters of Malaysian urban music.

Comprising creative talents from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, THE WORKS is by nature unconstrained by limitations of genre and concepts. Delving equally into soundscapes derived from breakbeats, drum and bass, hip hop, trip hop and ethnic arrangements, this collective hope to expand its exposure to the public ear, and share its sonic journeying with as many people as possible.

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‘USE AGAIN’ ASIA EXHIBITION

UseAgain is an initiative by Flink, set to push creative boundaries and inspire graphic designers all over the globe. BIGBROS Workshop, the producer of Territory Bookazine has been assigned to officially to collect submissions for the “UseAgain-ASIA” exhibitions. The project contacted renowned Digital Artists from all over the globe, asking them to send their rejected work. Designers and artists produce so many bits and pieces of interesting artwork as part of their creative process. Sometimes, these interesting fragments don’t see the light of day when they’ve been rejected or discarded. The idea is to accumulate these individual vectorized artworks and put them together to produce the final composed artwork. The outcome is a manifold and colourful collection of varying expressions, illustrating the amazing diversity and potential of Digital Art.

After the launch of the exhibition in Belgium, this unique collection of artwork is currently travelling the world and will be invading territories of Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Thailand and other continents. Galleriiizu is honoured and delighted to host their Asian exhibition in Malaysia.

www.digitalartzone.com

To commemorate a new era of art in Malaysia, on the 7^th of February galleriiizu will launch a new internet portal for Digital Art: www.digitalartzone.com. This portal shall serve as a gateway to all types of Digital Art related websites, linking those curious about discovering more to over 300 interesting resources.

DIGITAL SERVICES

Galleriiizu introduces a new form of personalized art: Be it portraits, photos or even a child’s drawing, by blowing those images up and printing them on canvas, stunning pieces of personalized art can be created. Through the work of computer aided technology artists, everybody can customize his/her art to fit in with their own style, interior or budget. Art lovers can decide on the image they want the work to be based on, the style, the size, the colors and of course the frame. It is all about involving people in THEIR art like never before.